


Kissing Him Was Simple

by rzqtz



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - After College/University, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Slow Burn, seungkwan hansol chan still in school tho, slow to update but I will finish this fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-03-31 13:25:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13976055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rzqtz/pseuds/rzqtz
Summary: Falling for him was simple...finding him is not.After years of being single, Jihoon meets a boy, but it seems like fate is really testing him.He came into his life like a flash and was gone even sooner.Should he even care? Actually, why did he care so much? Maybe because on that night, he felt cared for...





	1. Chapter 1

“Friday”. What a beautiful word. For some, it meant returning home from a near soul crushing job, just in time to avoid self inflicting any bodily harm to cope with the inexpressible amounts of stress and moral turmoil. For others, it was time to fuckin’ party.

 

 

It was nearing 11pm, and the small, tired boy from the sound department was exiting the elevator on the first floor of his workplace. He knew that he must have been breaking more than a few rules for staying this late past his shift, but what could he say, he loved his job. The building was never really ever shut down anyways. It was typically open late hours to accommodate the hectic schedules of those who worked there. Being in the entertainment industry, they never really expected any form of order anyways.

Turning down the final corridor, the boy quickly dropped a slip of paper off at the now vacant security desk.

“Thanks”

He did an about face and strutted out through the heavy glass doors with a look of pride beaming off of his small face. He was in a particularly good mood as he began the short fifteen minute walk to his apartment complex. His project was going surprisingly well, and his team was making good time despite the lack of clear directions.

While lost in thought, Jihoon failed to notice the small comotion forming just across the road. If it was any other day, he would have quickly ducked behind one of the parked cars lining the street, waiting for the perfect time to quietly make his way around the corner, and proceed to walk home feeling relieved at the fact he avoided another forced night spent inside of the rowdy bar his friends frequiented.

Unfortunately, this was not the case and the group of six guys instantly noticed the oblivious Jihoon walking alone down the pavement. Seeing this as the perfect opportunity to drag the obviously overworked boy into having some fun, they did exactly that, pulling Jihoon into the bar with such strength that he thought they might have caused permanent damage to the socket of his right arm. He only realized what was going on after it was too late, but that didn’t stop him from protesting. He shouted obscenities at all of them whilst they proceeded to force him on top of a bar stool and ordered him enough drinks for him to already fear for the well-being of his liver.

 

 

 

  
He swung his legs back and forth through the air, as he was too short to fully reach the ground despite being old enough to purchase alcohol. After the guys were finished attacking him with their friendship, they began conversing, played drinking games, and sauntering around the dark interior of the building. Jihoon enjoyed people watching more than anything, so he was more than happy with sitting at the bar alone all night as long as he knew everyone else was having a good time.

He quietly watched as his oldest friend Seungcheol deviated from his normal cool and collected character, and became a drunken mess who could hardly stand on his own. Despite his lack of coherent speaking ability, he was very popular among the other patrons of the bar. Jihoon had always noticed that sort of aura about him. He was truly a people person and his caring personality attracted people to him.

Jeonghan was also a major social butterfly. He normally enjoyed being in the middle of the action but when he drank, he tended to calm down and stick by his close friends. Jihoon found it cute how the older boy would become clingy and somewhat shy while drunk. It was such a stark contrast to his usually bold personality. Jihoon peered into the crowd and his eyes landed on said boy having a casual conversation with Wonwoo. Wonwoo was the real wild card of the group. One minute, he would be cursing at his friends reminding them how idiotic they were and how they had already managed to ruin much of his adult life, the next he would be cheerful, smiley Wonwoo who laughed at all of the bad jokes and was the group’s resident literature nerd. Jihoon secretly admired his duality but thought that his own less complex personality was okay too.

 

  
A tap on his shoulder snapped him out of his thoughts. He peered over to see Minghao, Jisoo, and Junhui who looked more than a little drunk. He shot them a questioning look and they began giggling furiously unable to get any intelligible words out. He sighed dramatically but could not keep the genuine smile off of his face. He had met the three in middle school and they all reconnected in college. Minghao majored in cinematography, Jisoo in ethnomusicology, and Junhui in linguistics. Despite their differences in interests, they all had signed up for their school’s dance club their freshman year. As the weeks went on, fewer and fewer students continued coming to the practices. The group dwindled down to a group of seven: Jihoon, Minghao, Jisoo, and Junhui, as well as Seungcheol, Jeonghan, and Wonwoo and thus their friend group was born.

After college, they went on different paths but were never far from each other. They all continued living in the city as many of them were presented with very good job offers after they finished their degrees. Jihoon had majored in composition and minored in writing and production which led him to his current place of work. His first job there paid decent for an entry level position yet he was not content with just getting by. He was a diligent worker and his efforts had been noticed by the higher ups. Once he proved himself, he was offered his current position of helping create the music to go with the feeling of the artist and lyrics that they were given to work with. Jihoon was gifted with playing instruments and creating beats, but had always denied being able to create lyrics of his own. When a few of his friends at work informed him that they would be forming a band in their free time and offered him a spot writing the songs, he firmly denied with the excuse that his lyric writing abilities were nothing special and that they would be better off without him. As much as he wanted to believe he was content with his name written in the credits list of an album, his real passions were writing and singing, secretly of course.

Seeing as he had some time to kill, Jihoon began stringing words into melodic phrases, and arranging those phrases in an order that made sense and told a story. It soon turned into a full verse for a poetic love song. He pulled out his phone a typed a quick draft of the lyrics into his notes for later reference.

One thing that was good about such a busy place was that no one could hear him humming melodies to himself or frantically cursing under his breath like a psycho when he forgot a particularly good arrangement. He thought he might be actually going insane when coming back more often sounded like a good idea in his head momentarily.

 

  
His thoughts were cut off by the clearing of a throat aimed in his direction.

 

His gaze shifted upward meeting the eyes of a boy about his age that he had never seen before.

 

‘Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is taken.’

 

Jihoon had not even noticed how much fuller the bar had become within the hour.

 

He shook himself out of his thoughts.

 

‘I don’t mind,’ he replied just loud enough to be heard over the booming music and the room’s drunk inhabitants.

 

The unfamiliar boy stared at him for a few seconds before slowly taking a seat. He kept his gaze glued to the floor yet his body was facing towards Jihoon.

 

The boy was definitely taller than him, yet the way he carried himself made him seem small. He was wearing nice black jeans and a well fitting long sleeved dress shirt in an attractive shade of greyish blue. He had jet black hair and from what he could see, dark slanted eyes. Unlike everyone else in the bar, he only carried a can of sprite and appeared to be completely sober, but Jihoon couldn’t tell for sure. The boy shifted awkwardly in his seat while tapping his shoe to match the beat of the music.

 

‘New in town?’ Jihoon asked attempting for one of the few times in his life to make small talk. He didn’t know if it were because he was in a good mood or because the alcohol was starting to affect him.

 

‘No I’ve lived here my entire life,’ he replied hesitantly only glancing up for a second before staring down at his shoes.

 

Jihoon had no idea where the conversation could go from there. He tried to think of something general enough for them to both talk about, but also interesting enough to keep the conversation going for longer than a minute.

 

Thankfully, the socially incompetent boy was saved by the arrival of the bartender who asked if they wanted another drink. Jihoon flashed his nearly full second glass as to say he was good. The bartender quickly turned to the other boy who simply shook his head queuing the man to tend to the customers beside them. Jihoon didn’t even realize he was staring at the dark haired boy until he spoke.

 

‘I usually drink but I have a flight later.’

 

‘Oh.’

 

Jihoon mentally kicked himself for the lame answer and for killing his chance to begin a proper conversation.

 

Just as he was looking for the nearest corner to curl up and die in, the boy spoke again.

 

‘Sorry for being so umm… unpleasant. I’m normally not like this.’

 

‘You’re not unpleasant,’ Jihoon said simply because it was true.

 

And then there was silence…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until the taller boy spoke after what felt like an eternity.

 

 

 

  
‘I’m sorry but I can’t keep going with this awful conversation,’ the boy laughed suddenly with all of the confidence in the world surprising Jihoon. ‘I saw the way you talk to your friends and you seem cool. I think I’m giving off the wrong vibe. I’m normally the craziest one here. My name is Soonyoung.’ The boy called Soonyoung held out his hand and Jihoon reached out his much smaller one giving it a quick shake.

  
‘I’m Jihoon,’ he stated breathing a sigh of relief when finding out that his company was indeed chill. ‘So what are you doing here then if you have somewhere to be soon?’

 

‘My friend invited me as a sort of going away present I guess. He’s somewhere around here. I’m going to spend the next few months studying overseas.’

 

‘Wow neat,’ Jihoon replied surprised learning that Soonyoung was still a student. ‘What are you majoring in?’

 

‘Oh I’m not in college.’ the boy said prompting Jihoon to tilt his head slightly in curiosity. ’I work at a dance school. They are sending me to do some exploration in foreign street dance. We’re trying to change it up a bit at the studio.’

 

‘Me and my friends all met through dance at our college,’ Jihoon laughed glad that they had something in common ‘we could have practiced more, but I like to say that we were better than average for having taught ourselves.’

 

‘Hey, you guys would be perfect to help in the studio if you could find the time. We are trying to learn more about dance culture outside of a traditional classroom.’ He then continued rambling on and on about how much he loved his job and how fortunate he was considering the background that he came from. When the boy spoke, he used big hand gestures and was very energetic. The way Soonyoung beamed as he talked about his passion caught Jihoon’s attention. His already small eyes would turn even smaller and he would smile while taking. His words came out rushed but were full of passion and dedication. It was very endearing and Jihoon found himself leaning forward in his seat towards the taller boy. They talked for a long, long time sharing thoughts, asking questions, and enjoying each other’s company. The more they talked, the more he realized how interesting Soonyoung was.

 

 

 

  
After a while, there was a lull in the conversation and Jihoon used the opportunity to check the notifications on his phone. Soonyoung looked over at him and smiled. He had been enjoying his time and was afraid that it was about to end. Would they be able to continue an actual friendship after tonight? Would Jihoon even remember him after spending months away from of the country? What were the chances that they would even see each other again?

 

He sighed. It was now or never.

 

 

  
‘Hey… Jihoon? Can I maybe uhh… get your… get your number?’

 

 

  
Just as the mentioned boy opened his mouth to reply, Seungcheol came and tore him from his comfortable seat away from the commotion and Jihoon suddenly found himself in a loudly cheering mob that was taking shots.

 

Jeonghan appeared in front of him with two of the small glasses in his hands and passed one to Jihoon. It would be rude to reject the offer so Jihoon tipped it back and drank. He then began enjoying the effects of the alcohol…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
He knew that a few hours had past but he really had no concept of time. All of his worries long forgotten as he roamed the interior with a smile that would not leave his face. Just as he was about to return to his table for the first time since he left, he suddenly felt the urge to plop down on the floor and sleep. He still had some sense though and decided that this would likely not be a very good idea, so he dragged his nearly lifeless body over to the corner and leaned against the wall. He could feel himself slowly sliding down the smooth surface as his eyes began to shut and his mind began to cloud.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. 
> 
> Feedback is much appreciated. Please comment your thoughts, questions, ideas, etc. I would love to read them.
> 
> I have a twitter I don't really use @rzqtz
> 
> I'll try to update soon
> 
> thanks again :)


	2. Chapter 2

Soonyoung POV:

After his company left (more specifically was forcefully dragged away), Soonyoung was alone. He spent the next few hours attempting to have some fun and trying to tire himself out a bit so that he could sleep through the plane ride. After that got boring he looked around for his friend that had invited him in the first place. He didn’t feel like mingling with anyone else. He suddenly felt uncomfortable being sober while surrounded with the increasingly intoxicated strangers. He wanted to go home and wait out the remainder of time until he needed to arrive at the airport so he jumped up from his seat and braved the mob in search of his companion.

He passed by all of the tables and groups of friends more than once but could not find the man he was looking for. He took out his cell phone and dialed the most recently called number. It rang about five times before he heard a voice on the other end of the line.

 

‘Heyyyy, Soonyoungggg!!!’

 

‘Where are you. I don’t see you?’

 

‘Where am I?…Where are you?

 

‘I’ve literally been in the same spot for hours until now.’

 

‘REALLY?’

 

‘What do you mean really of course i’m here. Where are you then?’

 

‘I’m walking to your house. I didn’t see your car. I thought you got mad and left me.’ Soonyoung literally facepalmed wondering why he didn’t bother calling him or simply taking two seconds to look for him in the building, but the strange behavior of his friend was not that uncommon, especially when he was drunk.

 

‘I’ll be there soon. Stay warm.’ Soonyoung hung up without letting him respond.

 

As he walked out, the dark haired boy noticed the small figure of a familiar man leaning against the wall of the bar.

 

‘Jihoon?’

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

Jihoon woke up later that morning in his apartment. With closed eyes, he rolled over and stuffed his face into his pillow and then realized something. It was strange that he was asleep in his own bed. For the past few weeks, he had been falling asleep on his couch while attempting to write lyrics for the personal project of his. He opened his eyes and scanned around his room noticing that it was completely enshrouded by darkness. Even when he had slept in his room, he always kept his curtains and blinds partially open as he liked to wake up with the sun’s natural light.

He sat up in place only to immediately return to laying down. His head seared with pain and he remembered that he had been drinking last night. He turned to his nightstand and thankfully found a bottle of painkillers. He put a pill in his mouth and got up slowly to fetch a glass of water from his kitchen.

He then went to his bathroom and turned on the hot water for a shower. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and did a double take. He approached it so that he could study himself more clearly. His skin was pale and his very irritated eyes were hollow. His appearance was as drained as it had been during finals week in university. He returned to his room to find some daytime attire. Instead of pajamas, he realized that he had slept in some of his old dance clothes. He smiled as he looked at his college’s tee shirt. “I really need to get back into dance,” he thought to himself. A wave of pleasant memories occupied his mind as he remembered the companionship and closeness that his friends had shared in that club. They still remained as close as ever, but now having busy and very different schedules made it harder to find time to get together.

After showering and changing from his worn out sweats to some comfortable jeans and a too large dark green sweatshirt, he returned to his small kitchen. The water alone already made him feel much better so he made himself some instant coffee and grabbed some fruit from the bowl on the counter.

The sound of a cell phone buzzing faintly from across the apartment caught Jihoon’s attention. He retrieved it just in time to see that his friend Seungcheol was calling him, and he quickly pressed on the glowing screen to avoid it going to voicemail.

 

‘Hello?’

 

‘Hey. It’s Seungcheol,’ Jihoon smiled at the obvious statement.

 

‘Hey Seungcheol how are you?’ Jihoon only asked to be polite. He already knew that the older was extremely hungover just by the sound of his voice.

 

‘Terrible. I want to fucking die but that’s besides the point.’

 

‘What is the point then?’

 

‘Well umm… it’s… I mean… shoot I guess there really was no point other than saying hey.’

 

‘Hey,’ Jihoon replied dryly.

 

‘Yeah anyways... I gotta get going. I was just checking to make sure you make it home last night. Text me soon dude. Seriously. You really need to get out more.’

 

And with that, Seungcheol ended the call and Jihoon was greatful. He was normally bad at ending conversations but it would have been a thousand times more awkward after hearing the worry in his friends voice.

Did he need to go out more? Jihoon thought the opposite himself. He was displeased by his recent lack of productivity and was trying to remove as many distractions from his life as possible. He made music because he loved it, but he also loved his friends. “Couldn't I just make time for both?” Jihoon felt like he was over complicating the situation. All he had to do was take some time off. How hard could it be? Then reality began resettling in his clouded mind. If he wanted to make music that people would love, he world have to work damn hard. It wasn't like any other profession. It was entertainment. The audience would make or break him and he couldn't do a thing about it. Jihoon sighed and then continued on with his morning, leaving his worries for a later time.

Because he didn’t have a dining table, he shuffled over to his couch where he normally ate breakfast. He set his steaming mug down on the coffee table in front of him and noticed a piece of paper folded at the center of the table. It was a piece of staff paper with his name messily scrawled on the outside. He grabbed it and hastily opened the note, cursing instantly that it was so long because he still had a pounding headache.

 

 

“Hello Jihoon. I first want to apologize for entering your house without permission. A friend of mine knew you too and gave me the address so I drove you home. I don’t know if you remember much of the conversation we had before you knocked out in the car, but your secret is safe with me.

In case you were wondering, the apartment security recognized you and unlocked your door for me. I have a lot I still want to tell you but my plane leaves in an hour. Hopefully we can meet again in the future.

-Soonyoung

 

P.S. You never gave me your number so here is mine”

 

 

Below was the ten digit number of his newest friend.

 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Soonyoung POV:

‘Hello? Jihoon?’ Soonyoung was conflicted. He was half glad that Jihoon hadn’t left yet, and half concerned that he was still there seeing his fatigued state. ‘JIHOON.’

 

The shorter jerked out of his slumber but paid no attention to the boy in front of him.

 

‘Umm… what are you doing?’ Soonyoung asked awkwardly not knowing how drunk the other was.

 

‘Mm?’ Jihoon looked up at Soonyoung with half-lidded eyes.

 

‘I said what are you doing?’

 

‘What am I doing?’

 

‘Yes what are you doing?’ Soonyoung repeated lowder and more slowly.

 

‘Well… I don’t know,’ Jihoon replied feebly.

 

‘Are your friends still here?’

 

‘I don’t know’

 

‘Well can you look for them?’

 

‘Too tired’

 

Soonyoung made a mental note that JIhoon was a ‘useless drunk’. It would have been amusing if it weren’t for the current situation.

 

‘How are you gonna get home then?’

 

‘I’ll walk’

 

‘Try to stand up right now I dare you’

 

‘I’ll be fine in like an hour’

 

“No way I’m leaving you here by yourself for an hour,” Soonyoung almost said out loud. He then reached out a hand to the younger and when he did nothing, he bend down and hauled him up by the wrist.

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

Jihoon read first few lines of the note over about five times before it began to make even the tiniest amount of sense. What friend? He drove him home? What conversation? Jihoon really hoped he hadn’t embarrassed himself in front of Soonyoung because as the letter mentioned, he didn’t remember anything from the previous night after about his fourth shot with Jeonghan. He set the piece of paper down and tried to recall anything he could.

 

 

 

It was no use.

 

As he looked over the words scrawled crookedly on the paper, his eyes latched onto a phrase near the middle of the page:

 

“your secret is safe with me”

 

That’s when Jihoon really started to panic. Although he was alone, a deep blush found its way onto his cheeks. What secret could he possibly have told Soonyoung? Jihoon was a pretty open guy, but was quiet at times. His mind immediately went to the worst…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

until he realized that he couldn't really think of a worst. Sure he did some stupid things now and then, but nothing he would have to hide. He was living a pretty simple life at the moment. Jihoon suddenly remembered something that Seungcheol had told him a few months prior while hanging out one afternoon.

 

_“You know you drink pretty well for a guy of your size.” Seungcheol said to Jihoon as the two were pressing away furiously at the smooth, sleek buttons of their controllers._

_“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” Jihoon shot back just as the round finished._

_“Hell yeah it is!” The two set their remotes down and Seungcheol got up to look through the case overfilled with boxes upon boxes of video game discs._

_“Whatever”_

_“Well you do. You stay yourself but like…  blunter. If you know what i mean,” Seungcheol said turning to look over at Jihoon with a smirk._

_“Blunter?” Jihoon repeated with the slightest tone of offense heard in his voice._

_“Yeah you know. Um.. like you stop trying to please everyone all the time. It’s really funny.” Seungcheol continued to riffle through the box for the specific title that he was searching for._

_“Do I normally try to please everyone all the time?”_

  
_“I mean . . . not really.” Jihoon didn’t really know how to reply. He looked him dead in the eye and Seungcheol lost it. He giggled intensely like a child and then flashed Jihoon a bright grin. He knew Seungcheol was up to something but didn’t have time to question it as his friend inserted the newly found disc into the console and started the game._

Did he act rude when drunk? Is that what Seungcheol was hinting at? He hoped not because Soonyoung had been so nice to him and he wanted to leave a good impression. He thought back to last night and all of the things they talked about. It was fun. Jihoon found himself opening up quickly which was something normally hard for him to do. He was glad he did though because he could picture himself and Soonyoung becoming really good friends. Jihoon was actually considering going to the dance studio he talked about. It would be good for him, especially if he could drag a few of his friends along. He didn’t think it would be too difficult to convince them.

 

Jihoon pulled out his phone and opened the group chat. The most recent message was sent by Jeonghan an hour before and read “fml” to which Minghao replied “same.” Jihoon then laughed out loud remembering how both Jeonghan and Minghao had a short business meeting to attend earlier that morning.

 

Without much thought Jihoon typed in the chat “you guys ever think of dancing together again?”

Jihoon did not expect the reaction that he got. His friends first congratulated him for finally realising he desperately needed to improve his social situation and then became excited at the thought of practicing together again. Junhui’s schedule change two weeks prior meant that all of them would be available on the weekends which made the idea sound actually doable.

 

wonwoo: “how are we going to do it tho none of us have a big enough place?”

 

jihoon: “well it’s just an idea i’m not really sure either”

 

jeonghan: “we could try the rec center”

 

jisoo: “no way i’m not going back to that hellhole ever again”

 

seungcheol: “?”

 

jeonghan: “wtf”

 

Jihoon was about to tell them about the studio but was hesitant. He thought he should talk to Soonyoung about it first just to make sure it was okay.

 

As his friends bickered, Jihoon picked up the note again, this time not reading it, but examining the handwriting. It was pretty bad but interesting. It was just like how Soonyoung talked, all quick, jumbled, and excited. Jihoon thought his friends and Soonyoung would get along well.

 

Jihoon’s excitement left as fast as it came. How could he forget? Soonyoung was going to be gone for months. It would be awhile before they would meet again.

 

 

 

His mood continued to deteriorate.

 

 

 

Jihoon signed as he took a sip of his coffee while thinking about his future and his goals that he had not yet even attempted to accomplish.

 

He closed his eyes and leaned back against the couch.

 

“What now?” he seriously asked himself.

 

 

 

Jihoon sat up.

 

 

 

His eyes quickly found the bottom of the page as he picked up his phone again. He created a new contact and carefully typed in the number. The corners of his lips curled up into a half smile as he typed in the name.

  
  
  
  
  


 

 

"soonyoung <3"

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading
> 
> Feedback is much appreciated :)
> 
> I'll try to update soon


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